September 16, 2025 • 36 mins
Charlie Grigg shares his journey from being a riverside kid watching unlimited hydroplanes in the 1960s to becoming a key sponsor for Ed Cooper's piston-powered racing team. Along with co-host Mike Hall, a longtime Cooper team member, we explore how passion and community spirit drove Charlie's decision to bring the thunder back to the Columbia Cup. Join us next week for part two of our interview with Charlie Grigg, where we'll dive deeper into the sponsorship details.
*Photo from Charlie Grigg Collection
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Rooster Tail Talk, the podcast dedicated to
everything about the sport thatwe all love.
I, jermaine Reese, I am yourhost, david Newton, and it's
time once again.
So sit back, relax and welcometo Rooster Tail Talk.
Hello race fans, welcome backto the podcast.
(00:49):
Today is September 16th 2025,and this is episode 162.
Now for today's episode, I triedsomething a little bit
differently.
I have a co-host with me.
I'm going to be talking withMike Hall.
You should recognize his namefrom being on earlier in the
year, as Mike came on and talkedabout his career crewing for H1
(01:11):
Unlimited Racing Team, go3Racing or Cooper's Express.
It's been called many thingsover the years, but that team
from Evansville, indiana thatkept the thunder alive in the
sport with that turbochargedAllison or the Turbinator.
Now he joined me because 10years ago he became good friends
with Charlie Griggs, today'sguest on the podcast.
(01:32):
Now Charlie has made a name forhimself in the sport the past
10 years or so, sponsoring Go3Racing, the Cooper's Express
team, out at Evansville Indiana,and bringing the Thunder to the
Columbia Cup every year, withthe last couple of years being
an exception as the team is nowfor sale.
I wanted to talk to Charliebecause I always find it
(01:53):
interesting to hear thereasoning behind sponsorships,
how things started and whysomeone would choose to sponsor
an unlimited hydroplane.
This episode is part one of thatinterview that Mike and I have
with Charlie Griggs.
You already get a chance toknow a little more about his
background and his love andpassion for the sport in this
episode, and we'll talk moreabout the sponsorship details in
(02:16):
the next episode.
So, with that said, let's jumpin to my interview of Charlie
Griggs with my co-host, mikeHall.
I'm sitting down on Zoom,talking with a couple of
gentlemen across the UnitedStates here, and we're going to
do something a little bitdifferent for this episode.
I actually have a co-host, mikeHall.
(02:38):
Mike, you've been on before, alongtime crew member of Ed
Cooper's team, and Griggspresents Ace Hardware.
Mike, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Great Thanks for having me on to host my really
good friend Charlie.
Charlie and I became Charlie.
What year did you startsponsoring Ed's boat?
I think it was 15.
15?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, okay, ten years ago then.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, was 15.
15, yeah, okay, 10 years agothen.
Yeah, so and charlie and I'vebecome really good friends and
it's my honor to to helpinterview my good friend.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
So thanks for asking me, yeah we've got some uh, you
got some secret questions comingyour way here a little bit,
charlie, looking forward tohearing uh, but, charlie, how
you?
Doing great, great Well.
Pleasure to have you on theshow and I know that you're a
hydroplane fan, that you geekout on hydroplanes and have been
(03:32):
a long fan.
But when did this start for you?
Before we talk about yourbusiness and your sponsorship, I
want to hear more about yourbackground.
When did this love forhydroplane racing start for you?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well, it was in the mid-60s when they started having
the hydroplane races here inthe Tri-Cities.
I lived one block off of theriver when I was a kid and I
heard that noise.
Didn't know what it was I meanlittle kid didn't read the paper
(04:03):
, but I heard this noise comingfrom the river and I opened the
back gate and ran across thefield, across the street and
down to the river and theseboats were going around in
circles and it was just loud asheck and they were fast, water
was flying, and about that pointI was pretty well hooked and
(04:23):
say I've been following themever since.
I mean it was an on and offrelationship as the kids started
having kids and things that wewe didn't go as often, but it's.
It's something about the noiseof those things that hooked me.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, I'm just curious.
We're on the Pasco side orKennewick side?
Pasco side, yeah, yeah, and itwas you on the Pasco side or
Kennewick side?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Pasco side, Pasco side, yeah, yeah, and it was.
It was a whole.
I mean, as I grew up, it was awhole neighborhood party.
I mean there would be, therewould be bands in people's
backyards and people coming over.
I mean it was.
It was just crazy that week.
And again the week started.
I think they started rolling inon a tuesday and wednesday.
(05:08):
They were.
They were running boats all daylong, uh, testing and
qualifying and heats, and againthere would be 17 boats down
there.
So they were.
It was constant action yeah,yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
It was a little bit different back then.
It reminds me of my father'sstory growing up in the Seattle
area.
You hear the boats, thethunderboats back then, and they
would run down to the river ontheir bikes and or to the lake
and watch the boats but a littledifferent now with the turbines
.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Can't really hear them that far away.
And that was the thing.
I mean.
I can remember standing on theshore and there would be five or
six of them running at the sametime and your insides would
just shake and it was thecoolest thing because I mean
you're standing on the shore andinside of your body is shaking
(06:01):
as those things are going around, and that's not I.
I mean, you could go to a dragstrip and get that kind of thing
, but uh, kids now don't.
They haven't experienced that.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
It's just awesome yeah, it's a different, totally
different feel and I I grew up,I was born 84 and I just at the
tail end of that, so my memoriesare kind of past that and
there's really predominantlyturbine racing at that point I
wish I could have experiencedthat, but thankfully there's a
few boats out there with themuseum and when you're
(06:34):
sponsoring Ed's boat it had somehad some thunder where that
brought to the races.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, if you could, if you could get those I mean,
the museum boats are old museumpieces, right, and if you could
get them all when they're outdoing their exhibition, if they
would all go out and hammer down, you would get that feeling
with five of them out there.
But again, they're a little.
They're not much over idle,it's just not quite the same.
(07:04):
They're not much over idle,it's just not quite the same.
And even with ed's boat, withthe turbo chargers on it, that
quiets it down immensely.
I mean it's like having amuffler on there.
But you get.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You get a lot more power right, right, yeah, that's
, and I that's.
My son had asked me about allthat noise back in the day
because you know I was, you knowI started watching back in what
78 and all that noise it wasjust like you said that it was
earth-shaking, evan.
I even told him I was, like youknow, an Ed.
Sometimes when you're in frontof it you can really hear it,
(07:35):
but most of it what you'rehearing is the propeller.
You know just that whining ofthe propeller.
So, yeah, I can, I candefinitely.
Uh, I know what you're talkingabout with that.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
It's really cool it's and, like I say there's, no,
you're not going to experiencethat anymore and and that's.
But that's the reason that Iwanted to bring the three back
is to at least have that noiseout there.
And, and I and I for me, whenthe piston boats stopped running
(08:08):
, I started losing interest.
And I don't know, they werefast, it was, but it just it
wasn't the same that I grew upwith.
I'm probably sounding like anold person now, but that's,
that's what I, that's what Iexperienced, that's what I love.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, something so unique about that and yeah, I'm
glad you did bring thesponsorship to Ed and got the
boat out for many years andwe'll talk about that here in a
minute.
But but just talking about your, your nostalgia for the sport
and you had to have a favoriteboat at some point or some team
that you followed.
Don't say a Cooper's go three,but what team was?
And when you look back on thesport, what's your favorite?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I was a Budweiser guy .
I was a Dean Chenoweth guy.
Bernie little was fascinatingto be able to go down in the
pits and he was just bigger thanlife and I wish that I had
gotten involved sooner, becausesome of these guys I met Bernie
as a kid, and the white pantsand the gold chains and the bus
(09:18):
you know.
I'm sitting there looking atthat bus going oh my God, this
is just the coolest thing.
Looking at that bus going oh myGod, this is just the coolest
thing.
But the Budweiser, the veryfirst, I mean the shovel-nosed
ones had me but the Griffinwould be my all-time favorite.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, yeah, that Griffin Bud's something else.
The museum put out a reallygood show in Seafair with the
Atlas there with the Griffin Bud.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
That's just a different animal.
Yeah, even at idle, that thatgriffin bud is just that it's
different.
Yeah, I remember the first yearthey ran that I was in
tri-cities and I was on the dockand I was I don't know if we
were just coming in or somethingbut they fired that thing up.
I jumped about three foot inthe air and I was like, wow,
I've never heard anything likethat before.
(10:05):
Well, I had, I just wasn't thatclose to it.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
It's just a different , it's a different roar to it.
I mean it's a deeper throathere, noise and like I say, that
one totally got me.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, yeah, Mike, did you ever?
I can't remember.
When I interviewed you, did youtell me about your favorite
team?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
My favorite team.
Yeah, which is really weirdbecause I've noticed that since
I was from Evansville, you knowAtlas Van, anything Atlas Van
lines.
I was more of a really big ChipHanauer fan, even though in the
beginning he drove the SquireShop.
Obviously, bill Muncy was myfirst favorite with the Blue
(10:51):
Blaster because I startedwatching in 78.
But it's funny you say thatbecause I know John Culver and
some other people out there wereall Miss Budweiser fans and so
back east it seems like therewas a lot more Bill Muncy fans
and it's just funny that you saythat I didn't realize that you
were a big Miss Budweiser fan,because John Culver's a huge
(11:13):
Miss Budweiser fan from back inthat day too.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Yeah, I mean, I still have it.
I open my desk drawer at workand I've got Budweiser pins from
the seventies in the drawer.
Still, it's like you look atthem.
That's cool.
What am I ever going to do withthese?
I don't know, but they're stillsitting there and they make me
smile.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah, yeah, well, fantastic.
Yeah.
It's interesting to hear fromdifferent regions.
You know the nostalgia for it,but also the different teams
that you're favoring.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Another thing I wanted to ask is so you know and
David asked me this is you know, as a fan, you know, the kids
in Seattle always talk aboutpulling the boats behind their
bikes and things like that Didyou do that?
Did you pull boats behind yourbike?
Oh yeah, oh okay, and thingslike that Did you?
Did you do that?
Did you pull?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
boats behind your bike, or oh, okay, okay, yeah,
no, we we had.
I mean it was it was the shovelnose looking one.
Then we finally got some picklefork looking ones.
I mean it was just cut out of apiece of three quarter inch
wood and you'd put them behindthe bikes and the kids would
race them up and down the street.
Or we had them on strings andwe'd set up a like would race
them up and down the street.
Or we had them on strings andwe'd set up a course in the yard
and we'd drag those thingsthrough.
(12:20):
Well, the fastest kid won.
But they're back there floppingover and banging around On the
street.
They would stay level and yeah,it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So, with your end, with the hardware stores.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Did you have better equipment than the other people?
No, I had the same old piece ofwood that they all had.
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Well, I've heard stories about people putting
nails and stuff on the bottomand sparks.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yeah Well, so the street that I lived on was a
chip-sealed asphalt road so itwas rough as a cob.
You didn't go run with thosethings down the street because
that asphalt wasn't smooth so wewere dragging them on bikes.
(13:11):
It eventually just sanded thosethings down to nothing.
But you're out there announcingin your head it's into the
first corner and you know inyour head it's, you know, into
the first corner.
And then it was all radio thatyou heard back.
Then there was, you know therewas some tv that was on.
You know, a month later thatthey would show it on wide world
of sports.
But yeah, you, you wereannouncing in your head what you
were doing.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah well, fun times.
Fun times fast forward fewyears.
You have your own store.
Do you have one or two stores?
How many stores do you own?
We have four.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
You have four, oh yeah.
So my grandparents moved to theTri-Cities in 1939.
They came from South Dakota.
They had a restaurant and itburned down for the second time
and it was depression and theydecided my grandfather decided
to come west and he got in thecar and started driving west and
(14:05):
he would stop in every townthat he went to and he was just
trying to find a place to landand he would ask them questions
about what do you need here intown?
And, you know, is theresomething that's not being a
need that's not being filled?
And he worked his way.
He actually got to Wallace,idaho, and decided that that's
where he was going to land.
(14:26):
He called my grandmother andtold her to get in the car and
bring my aunt to Dahlgren.
Well, he kept, he got back inthe car and he headed south and
ended up in Pasco and changedhis mind and said that this is
where we're going to.
So back in the 39, 38, therewas no cell phones, so he had to
(14:48):
call back to the hotel in Idahothat they were supposed to meet
at and leave a message for herwhen she got there.
She was supposed to keep comingto Pasco and they eventually
landed in Pasco and opened abusiness.
He had eight brothers and theyall ended up moving out this
direction and all of them didsomething different.
(15:10):
There was engineers, electrical, did electrical work,
architects all kinds ofdifferent things that they did
and they all ended up movinghere and started building things
.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Quite the history there.
So you're a native Trisidian.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I was born in Pasco.
My father, he's 86.
He was born here as well and,like I say, my kids are here
here as well.
And like I say, my kids arekids are here.
My, my sisters and mom havemoved, moved to other places,
(15:49):
but I stayed here with thebusiness.
So we, so we have onedepartment store which is two
city blocks it's a, it was aWalmart before there was a
Walmart.
And then we have three ACEhardware stores in the
Tri-Cities.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Yeah, so time moved on and you're doing better with
the stores there, but what madeyou decide to get more involved
with hydroplane racing?
You're a fan.
Was it a dream of yours to be asponsor?
Speaker 3 (16:14):
No, I never thought it was possible.
And uh, in 15 there was aarticle in the tri-city herald
saying that ed cooper wanted tocome back and they were looking
for a sponsorship and say Icould remember when they won
here in the tri-cities.
Um, you know the huge upset andthe crowd, crowd went wild, uh.
(16:38):
But I knew that he was stilldoing pistons, and so I saw this
article and I I thought aboutit for the day and then I there
was an email to send an addressor send send a message to if you
were interested.
So I sent an email it was rickbowles on the other end and the
email pretty much said I'm notsaying that I can, but if I
(17:01):
could, how much is it?
And they sent back a number andI thought about it and I said I
can do that.
I mean that's so.
So again, it wasn't, it wasn'tabout sponsorship for me, it was
not.
It was a way to give back tothe Tri-Cities.
And if I could get that boathere and bring back some of that
(17:24):
nostalgia, I thought that youknow, the Tri-Cities has been
good to me, I can do somethinggood for it, and so that's where
it came from.
The number was something Icould live with, and so I said,
yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I remember so in 2015,.
You had to jog my memory whenthat was, but I remember Ed and
I were in Valleyfield the weekprior to that.
We had done some work to say wethink we might be coming.
We didn't know, and Ed and Iwere in Valleyfield and he looks
at me and says hey, I'm gettingyou a ticket, we're going to
(18:09):
Tri-Cities, we've got a sponsorand until I, I don't know if we
decaled the boat here inEvansville.
No, it was here.
Was it out there the first time?
Yep, okay, so I do rememberthat we got everything ready and
I flew out to Tri-Cities, andwhen I got there, we were.
Miss Ace Hardware.
(18:31):
I can't remember exactly thatyear what we were, griggs.
Presents Miss Ace Hardware, isthat what it was?
okay yeah, and then you know,obviously getting to meet you
guys, and then I think it wasright off the bat, I think we
had good chemistry, I think, uh,I mean we knew right away you
weren't a sponsor that was goingto sit in your rv all weekend
(18:54):
and and just entertain people.
It was like you became a partof the team really quick, which
was really fun for us.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
See, I thought it was just going to be a financial
transaction and I met Ed at KNDUTV.
They had four boats out in theparking lot.
He said meet me there with thecheck.
I got in a holler with him andthe check and gave him the check
.
We sat down and started talking.
He asked why I was doing it.
(19:30):
I told him about the storyabout living on the river and
being fascinated by him.
He said he had the same story10, 15 years earlier than I did
in Madison, in Evansville.
It was the same thing for himand I think that I 100% know
(19:52):
that he was leery of me beinginvolved.
So I figured I was going togive him a check.
We'd have a conversation, I'd goback over to the pasco side on
run race weekend, put up a, aneasy up and some chairs, and
that's where I would watch therace from.
And hey, all of a sudden hemade me feel at home.
(20:14):
And going down to the, down tothe pits and setting up, it was,
you know.
I'm asking what can I do, youknow?
And he's, oh, nothing.
And I'm like, well, I got to dosomething.
I mean, can I sweep, can I?
You know, is there a mess thatneeds to be cleaned up.
What you know?
What can I do?
And he eventually warmed up tothe fact that I could help.
(20:37):
Now, as far as knowing anythingabout a hydroplane or working
on an Allison, that's not me, Idon't know that, but there's
things that I can do, and itjust worked into a relationship
with the whole team.
I thought they were probablyleery of me too, and I've been
(20:58):
around some of the people thatdo sponsor boats that it's all
about me, me, me, and for me itwas.
I just wanted to be involved.
I wanted to learn something.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Mike, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Ed has
a saying or a motto with theteam If you've got time to lean,
you got time to clean.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
He says that Now, everybody, he is not quite the
hard-ass that everybody thinksthat he is, and Charlie will
tell you too he is one of thesweetest, nicest people you'll
ever meet in your life.
He does have a rule no chairs.
Well, I will say I and thank youto charlie.
(21:38):
But when charlie came around,all of a sudden we had chairs in
the pit area, which was reallynice, and so that that was cool.
So I, I thank charlie for that,because he kind of introduced
uh hey, we could actually becomfortable at a race site.
So that was cool.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
But that was really cool.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
I do remember Charlie right off because, like, I put
the wing on and I never hadenough help.
So I do remember asking Charlieright off the bat when he was
standing, like, hey, do you wantto help me do this?
And it was right away, you know, dug in and helping.
And I believe the next day hecame with gloves and I do
remember that.
So I believe the next day hecame with gloves and I do
(22:18):
remember that.
So I was like okay, yeah, thisguy's got to, I like this guy.
And just from then on that,like I feel Charlie and I have
been good friends since day oneand he's fit in with that team
and he's welcome anywhere.
Yeah, and that's not the waywith everybody, but yeah,
charlie was just a good fit forour program and a great sponsors
(22:40):
, my favorite sponsor we everhad, and we've had a lot of them
.
But yeah, yeah, I it was.
I wouldn't say love at firstsight.
I don't know what you would say, but like, well, I love you,
but I don't know, but I can'tspeak for the rest of you.
But like, well, I love you, butI don't know, I can't speak for
the rest of you.
But yeah, it's just fit in sowell with what we do.
(23:03):
You know, no ego at all, eventhough his name is, you know,
bernie.
Never really had his name thatbig on the on the boat, but
Charlie's got his name huge onthe boat, so take that for what
it's worth.
But yeah, anyway, I'm justkidding Charlie.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Well, it's funny because I mean I got into it to
give back to the Tri-Cities andI didn't realize the friends I
mean the lifelong friends that Iwould make that quickly.
It's just everything.
Everything clicked and, like Isay, with with coopers.
(23:41):
I mean they were out here for,uh, for the columbia cup or gold
cup, whatever it was calledthis year, and mitch was here
and a bunch of the guys from theteam were here.
We just helped mitch, but it itwas, I was, I was, it was
racing to begin with, but nowit's friends and, like I say, if
they want to run the boat again, great.
(24:02):
Otherwise we can go meetsomewhere and enjoy the company.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, and it's even when I talk I will call Charlie,
you know, once a month or havesome kind of communication, and
it's never about hydroplanes oranything, it's just how are you
doing and family stuff and andso he's right and and it and
it's been the same for me.
It's like I don't reallyremember the races too more, too
much other than the gold cupand the ones we won, but I
(24:30):
remember the friends and the,the all nighters and going out
to eat.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
So it's kind of the same for me.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Well, it's fun to hear all the stories from the
team's past the three, thestories about the three and it
always makes me jealous that Ididn't start until 15.
I mean, I hear you and Culver'sand Ed talking about things and
things that happened and it'slike God I wish that I got to
(25:00):
know that person, or I wish I'dhave been there, for you know
that experience.
But you know, I'm lucky that Igot to do it when I got to do it
yeah, that's definitely,definitely right, I mean.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
But one thing I just echoed, I feel like with all the
people I talked to in the sport, is just that immense support
system of friendship and familywithin in the the sport and I
feel like you know every teamyou go to has that same sense.
It's a little bit different,but I know cooper's has.
It's really a great group ofpeople.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Yeah, I mean I really lucked out with with that group
, um, and then you know,actually, and Ed's had Ed's had
a reputation of beingcantankerous.
He, that is not that guy.
I mean, he is, he is the nicestguy.
He is the nicest guy in theworld.
Um, he, he's, he's just a greatperson.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
We'll go back to that first year.
And you have the decals on theboat and it says Griggs presents
Miss Ace Hardware, and you saton the water for that first time
.
What was your feelings seeingyour name on the boat?
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Like I say it was, it was kind of cool.
Uh, to me, like I say, it was agive back thing.
I didn't uh, I don't know thatit's what you that you might
expect.
Um, it was, it was just, it was.
It was cool.
Um, I never thought that itwould happen.
(26:37):
I didn't realize the amount ofpeople that would come up and
want to talk about it.
It was just something that Iwas doing as a giveback, but
people were interested in it andhad lots of questions.
I learned as much as I couldabout the boat.
(26:57):
I'm kind of a tour guide whenpeople wanted to see it.
But I remembered being a littlekid and standing next to a boat
and how interested I was in it.
And so when I would see kidscome up in pit tours and things
you wanted to give themsomething extra.
You wanted to talk to them andlet them know.
You know I don't know anythingabout working on boats, but I'm
(27:19):
here working, working with theboat team.
You show some interest withsomebody you may be able to do
the same thing and, uh, it wasjust, it was a cool experience,
but I don't know that it was.
I don't know that it was likeuh, you know, look at me, I've
got my name on the boat we talkabout saving Go ahead Mike.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
He took that to the next level and put names on
buckets so everybody can see hisname as well.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
I had the buckets before that.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Oh, okay, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
It's.
You know, when you're inbusiness you promote things, and
is it?
Is it a regular bucket or is itdifferent?
And so that's.
I don't know how many thousandsof those buckets we've sold,
but it's just something that isdifferent.
It's not a Home Depot bucketand it's orange with the letters
on it.
I mean it's, it's different,and none of the other ACE stores
(28:16):
have.
All of them are doing differentthings now.
But it was just an idea I hadand I just kind of ran with it.
I mean, I've got pictures of meon our vehicles.
I've been on TV since I was 21years old 21, 22 years old and
(28:40):
people know who you are and it'sa part of the community.
Well, when they see the truckdrive by and your pictures on it
, they recognize that it'sdifferent and so it's promotion
of the business.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Well, do you feel like, with this promotion of the
business, you said you'regiving back to the community and
I know you've gotten that back.
I mean, the community loveswhat you did for the sport and
for the Columbia Cup with that,but do you financially?
Do you feel like it was a gooddecision for your business?
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Financially it doesn't benefit the business.
I mean, if it were a nationalbusiness I can see it benefiting
, but when it's one race in theTri-Cities and we don't go I
mean we did race in Guntersvilleunder our name, but it's as a
business decision I don't knowthat it's a great decision, not
(29:38):
enough eyes on it to warrant it.
It did create some buzz.
The number of Facebook friendsthat I've gotten around the
country that are boat racingpeople.
Again, it always amazes me thatthey want to follow me because
(29:59):
they don't.
I mean, I'm just a guy, but Iaccept them and you know they
got questions about the boatsand they're interested in things
.
So that's part of what we'redoing is creating interest.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Well, and a lot of Charlie, something that you you
know.
You taught me about a lot,about the ACE hardware franchise
and the and now I mean Iexclusively use these hardwares
around here because of thequality.
You know you told me about themeetings you go to and you guys
pick out what you're going to doand it's it's good quality
stuff, like you're getting thebest of breed of whatever tool
(30:37):
or or anything.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
So they're, they're all independently owned.
Uh, they're, so it's.
It's small owners like me.
Um right, I've got, I've gotfour stores.
And spokane, there's one guythat's got three.
There's a number of them thatjust have one store, but they're
independently owned.
It's people they're makingtheir way, using Ace as what
(31:08):
they're famous for, but everyoneis on their own.
So when we went to Guntersville, I checked with all of the ACE
stores around the Guntersvillearea, trying to see if they
wanted to help in thesponsorship.
They're in a different positionthan I am.
They weren't able to do that.
We got them tickets and letthem come down to the race and
(31:31):
experience it, but they, all ofthese stores, I mean, like I say
, my, my largest ACE store is50,000 feet.
Most of the ACE stores are10,000 feet, so it's it's a
different scale and they just alot of them.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Just aren't able to help.
Well, at least during theColumbia Cup week did you notice
an uptick in sales.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
We did sell T-shirts in the store.
We've been selling the models.
It's crazy, we've sold like 200of the three models.
We've always had an uptickduring boat race week and it's
either it's tents, it's pop-ups,it's disposable chairs, ice
(32:20):
chests, that kind of thing.
We've always had that.
It didn't increase because wehad the boat down there, but
again, it's top-of-mindawareness as part of the
business.
Again, like Mike said, there'sfans all over the country that,
hey, I'm going to support theACE store.
(32:41):
I get, I get emails from themand stuff on Facebook that, hey,
I went down to the local ACEstore and in Nebraska, because
you're sponsoring the boat, soit I mean it helps everybody and
I tried really hard with ACEhardware to get them involved
and they they helped for a while.
Uh, they had a co-op programthat I could use to help pay for
(33:04):
it, uh, and then they'vechanged that, they've changed
that program.
So at the end that was it wasall on me to do it again.
It's it, it gets the boat tothe Tri-Cities.
That was my goal and again, ifhe wanted to keep doing it, I
would still be sponsoring.
But I really don't haveinterest in turbine boats.
(33:29):
So that's where I told him whenyou're done, I'm done, and he
made the decision.
He talked to me about it.
I wanted to know if I had anylong-term commitments with it,
since I didn't when he said hewas done okay, I'm good, we'll
(33:49):
just go to watch the race thisyear.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
All right, Knuckleheads.
That's all the time we have forthis week come back next week,
as we'll have part two of myinterview with charlie griggs,
alongside co-host mike hall.
Hopefully got a chance to getto know charlie a little bit
better with this episode, andwe'll have many more stories to
share next week.
Don't forget to check us out onour social media platforms on
(34:15):
Facebook and Instagram, as wellas our website online at
roostertelltalkcom.
On there, you can find manyupdates about the podcast and
even check out the subscriptionservice Roostertell Talk Plus,
where you get early access tonew episodes, enter into monthly
raffle drawings, as well asmany other fun prizes and
(34:36):
surprises along the way.
But that's all we have for thisweek, so until next time.
I hope to see you at the races.
Rooster Tail Talk, the podcast dedicated to
everything about the sport thatwe all love.
I, jermaine Reese, I am yourhost, david Newton, and it's
time once again.
So sit back, relax and welcometo Rooster Tail Talk.
Hello race fans, welcome backto the podcast.
(00:49):
Today is September 16th 2025,and this is episode 162.
Now for today's episode, I triedsomething a little bit
differently.
I have a co-host with me.
I'm going to be talking withMike Hall.
You should recognize his namefrom being on earlier in the
year, as Mike came on and talkedabout his career crewing for H1
(01:11):
Unlimited Racing Team, go3Racing or Cooper's Express.
It's been called many thingsover the years, but that team
from Evansville, indiana thatkept the thunder alive in the
sport with that turbochargedAllison or the Turbinator.
Now he joined me because 10years ago he became good friends
with Charlie Griggs, today'sguest on the podcast.
(01:32):
Now Charlie has made a name forhimself in the sport the past
10 years or so, sponsoring Go3Racing, the Cooper's Express
team, out at Evansville Indiana,and bringing the Thunder to the
Columbia Cup every year, withthe last couple of years being
an exception as the team is nowfor sale.
I wanted to talk to Charliebecause I always find it
(01:53):
interesting to hear thereasoning behind sponsorships,
how things started and whysomeone would choose to sponsor
an unlimited hydroplane.
This episode is part one of thatinterview that Mike and I have
with Charlie Griggs.
You already get a chance toknow a little more about his
background and his love andpassion for the sport in this
episode, and we'll talk moreabout the sponsorship details in
(02:16):
the next episode.
So, with that said, let's jumpin to my interview of Charlie
Griggs with my co-host, mikeHall.
I'm sitting down on Zoom,talking with a couple of
gentlemen across the UnitedStates here, and we're going to
do something a little bitdifferent for this episode.
I actually have a co-host, mikeHall.
(02:38):
Mike, you've been on before, alongtime crew member of Ed
Cooper's team, and Griggspresents Ace Hardware.
Mike, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Great Thanks for having me on to host my really
good friend Charlie.
Charlie and I became Charlie.
What year did you startsponsoring Ed's boat?
I think it was 15.
15?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, okay, ten years ago then.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, was 15.
15, yeah, okay, 10 years agothen.
Yeah, so and charlie and I'vebecome really good friends and
it's my honor to to helpinterview my good friend.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
So thanks for asking me, yeah we've got some uh, you
got some secret questions comingyour way here a little bit,
charlie, looking forward tohearing uh, but, charlie, how
you?
Doing great, great Well.
Pleasure to have you on theshow and I know that you're a
hydroplane fan, that you geekout on hydroplanes and have been
(03:32):
a long fan.
But when did this start for you?
Before we talk about yourbusiness and your sponsorship, I
want to hear more about yourbackground.
When did this love forhydroplane racing start for you?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well, it was in the mid-60s when they started having
the hydroplane races here inthe Tri-Cities.
I lived one block off of theriver when I was a kid and I
heard that noise.
Didn't know what it was I meanlittle kid didn't read the paper
(04:03):
, but I heard this noise comingfrom the river and I opened the
back gate and ran across thefield, across the street and
down to the river and theseboats were going around in
circles and it was just loud asheck and they were fast, water
was flying, and about that pointI was pretty well hooked and
(04:23):
say I've been following themever since.
I mean it was an on and offrelationship as the kids started
having kids and things that wewe didn't go as often, but it's.
It's something about the noiseof those things that hooked me.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, I'm just curious.
We're on the Pasco side orKennewick side?
Pasco side, yeah, yeah, and itwas you on the Pasco side or
Kennewick side?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Pasco side, Pasco side, yeah, yeah, and it was.
It was a whole.
I mean, as I grew up, it was awhole neighborhood party.
I mean there would be, therewould be bands in people's
backyards and people coming over.
I mean it was.
It was just crazy that week.
And again the week started.
I think they started rolling inon a tuesday and wednesday.
(05:08):
They were.
They were running boats all daylong, uh, testing and
qualifying and heats, and againthere would be 17 boats down
there.
So they were.
It was constant action yeah,yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
It was a little bit different back then.
It reminds me of my father'sstory growing up in the Seattle
area.
You hear the boats, thethunderboats back then, and they
would run down to the river ontheir bikes and or to the lake
and watch the boats but a littledifferent now with the turbines
.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Can't really hear them that far away.
And that was the thing.
I mean.
I can remember standing on theshore and there would be five or
six of them running at the sametime and your insides would
just shake and it was thecoolest thing because I mean
you're standing on the shore andinside of your body is shaking
(06:01):
as those things are going around, and that's not I.
I mean, you could go to a dragstrip and get that kind of thing
, but uh, kids now don't.
They haven't experienced that.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
It's just awesome yeah, it's a different, totally
different feel and I I grew up,I was born 84 and I just at the
tail end of that, so my memoriesare kind of past that and
there's really predominantlyturbine racing at that point I
wish I could have experiencedthat, but thankfully there's a
few boats out there with themuseum and when you're
(06:34):
sponsoring Ed's boat it had somehad some thunder where that
brought to the races.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, if you could, if you could get those I mean,
the museum boats are old museumpieces, right, and if you could
get them all when they're outdoing their exhibition, if they
would all go out and hammer down, you would get that feeling
with five of them out there.
But again, they're a little.
They're not much over idle,it's just not quite the same.
(07:04):
They're not much over idle,it's just not quite the same.
And even with ed's boat, withthe turbo chargers on it, that
quiets it down immensely.
I mean it's like having amuffler on there.
But you get.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You get a lot more power right, right, yeah, that's
, and I that's.
My son had asked me about allthat noise back in the day
because you know I was, you knowI started watching back in what
78 and all that noise it wasjust like you said that it was
earth-shaking, evan.
I even told him I was, like youknow, an Ed.
Sometimes when you're in frontof it you can really hear it,
(07:35):
but most of it what you'rehearing is the propeller.
You know just that whining ofthe propeller.
So, yeah, I can, I candefinitely.
Uh, I know what you're talkingabout with that.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
It's really cool it's and, like I say there's, no,
you're not going to experiencethat anymore and and that's.
But that's the reason that Iwanted to bring the three back
is to at least have that noiseout there.
And, and I and I for me, whenthe piston boats stopped running
(08:08):
, I started losing interest.
And I don't know, they werefast, it was, but it just it
wasn't the same that I grew upwith.
I'm probably sounding like anold person now, but that's,
that's what I, that's what Iexperienced, that's what I love.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, something so unique about that and yeah, I'm
glad you did bring thesponsorship to Ed and got the
boat out for many years andwe'll talk about that here in a
minute.
But but just talking about your, your nostalgia for the sport
and you had to have a favoriteboat at some point or some team
that you followed.
Don't say a Cooper's go three,but what team was?
And when you look back on thesport, what's your favorite?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I was a Budweiser guy .
I was a Dean Chenoweth guy.
Bernie little was fascinatingto be able to go down in the
pits and he was just bigger thanlife and I wish that I had
gotten involved sooner, becausesome of these guys I met Bernie
as a kid, and the white pantsand the gold chains and the bus
(09:18):
you know.
I'm sitting there looking atthat bus going oh my God, this
is just the coolest thing.
Looking at that bus going oh myGod, this is just the coolest
thing.
But the Budweiser, the veryfirst, I mean the shovel-nosed
ones had me but the Griffinwould be my all-time favorite.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, yeah, that Griffin Bud's something else.
The museum put out a reallygood show in Seafair with the
Atlas there with the Griffin Bud.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
That's just a different animal.
Yeah, even at idle, that thatgriffin bud is just that it's
different.
Yeah, I remember the first yearthey ran that I was in
tri-cities and I was on the dockand I was I don't know if we
were just coming in or somethingbut they fired that thing up.
I jumped about three foot inthe air and I was like, wow,
I've never heard anything likethat before.
(10:05):
Well, I had, I just wasn't thatclose to it.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
It's just a different , it's a different roar to it.
I mean it's a deeper throathere, noise and like I say, that
one totally got me.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, yeah, Mike, did you ever?
I can't remember.
When I interviewed you, did youtell me about your favorite
team?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
My favorite team.
Yeah, which is really weirdbecause I've noticed that since
I was from Evansville, you knowAtlas Van, anything Atlas Van
lines.
I was more of a really big ChipHanauer fan, even though in the
beginning he drove the SquireShop.
Obviously, bill Muncy was myfirst favorite with the Blue
(10:51):
Blaster because I startedwatching in 78.
But it's funny you say thatbecause I know John Culver and
some other people out there wereall Miss Budweiser fans and so
back east it seems like therewas a lot more Bill Muncy fans
and it's just funny that you saythat I didn't realize that you
were a big Miss Budweiser fan,because John Culver's a huge
(11:13):
Miss Budweiser fan from back inthat day too.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Yeah, I mean, I still have it.
I open my desk drawer at workand I've got Budweiser pins from
the seventies in the drawer.
Still, it's like you look atthem.
That's cool.
What am I ever going to do withthese?
I don't know, but they're stillsitting there and they make me
smile.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah, yeah, well, fantastic.
Yeah.
It's interesting to hear fromdifferent regions.
You know the nostalgia for it,but also the different teams
that you're favoring.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Another thing I wanted to ask is so you know and
David asked me this is you know, as a fan, you know, the kids
in Seattle always talk aboutpulling the boats behind their
bikes and things like that Didyou do that?
Did you pull boats behind yourbike?
Oh yeah, oh okay, and thingslike that Did you?
Did you do that?
Did you pull?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
boats behind your bike, or oh, okay, okay, yeah,
no, we we had.
I mean it was it was the shovelnose looking one.
Then we finally got some picklefork looking ones.
I mean it was just cut out of apiece of three quarter inch
wood and you'd put them behindthe bikes and the kids would
race them up and down the street.
Or we had them on strings andwe'd set up a like would race
them up and down the street.
Or we had them on strings andwe'd set up a course in the yard
and we'd drag those thingsthrough.
(12:20):
Well, the fastest kid won.
But they're back there floppingover and banging around On the
street.
They would stay level and yeah,it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So, with your end, with the hardware stores.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Did you have better equipment than the other people?
No, I had the same old piece ofwood that they all had.
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Well, I've heard stories about people putting
nails and stuff on the bottomand sparks.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yeah Well, so the street that I lived on was a
chip-sealed asphalt road so itwas rough as a cob.
You didn't go run with thosethings down the street because
that asphalt wasn't smooth so wewere dragging them on bikes.
(13:11):
It eventually just sanded thosethings down to nothing.
But you're out there announcingin your head it's into the
first corner and you know inyour head it's, you know, into
the first corner.
And then it was all radio thatyou heard back.
Then there was, you know therewas some tv that was on.
You know, a month later thatthey would show it on wide world
of sports.
But yeah, you, you wereannouncing in your head what you
were doing.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah well, fun times.
Fun times fast forward fewyears.
You have your own store.
Do you have one or two stores?
How many stores do you own?
We have four.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
You have four, oh yeah.
So my grandparents moved to theTri-Cities in 1939.
They came from South Dakota.
They had a restaurant and itburned down for the second time
and it was depression and theydecided my grandfather decided
to come west and he got in thecar and started driving west and
(14:05):
he would stop in every townthat he went to and he was just
trying to find a place to landand he would ask them questions
about what do you need here intown?
And, you know, is theresomething that's not being a
need that's not being filled?
And he worked his way.
He actually got to Wallace,idaho, and decided that that's
where he was going to land.
(14:26):
He called my grandmother andtold her to get in the car and
bring my aunt to Dahlgren.
Well, he kept, he got back inthe car and he headed south and
ended up in Pasco and changedhis mind and said that this is
where we're going to.
So back in the 39, 38, therewas no cell phones, so he had to
(14:48):
call back to the hotel in Idahothat they were supposed to meet
at and leave a message for herwhen she got there.
She was supposed to keep comingto Pasco and they eventually
landed in Pasco and opened abusiness.
He had eight brothers and theyall ended up moving out this
direction and all of them didsomething different.
(15:10):
There was engineers, electrical, did electrical work,
architects all kinds ofdifferent things that they did
and they all ended up movinghere and started building things
.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Quite the history there.
So you're a native Trisidian.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I was born in Pasco.
My father, he's 86.
He was born here as well and,like I say, my kids are here
here as well.
And like I say, my kids arekids are here.
My, my sisters and mom havemoved, moved to other places,
(15:49):
but I stayed here with thebusiness.
So we, so we have onedepartment store which is two
city blocks it's a, it was aWalmart before there was a
Walmart.
And then we have three ACEhardware stores in the
Tri-Cities.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Yeah, so time moved on and you're doing better with
the stores there, but what madeyou decide to get more involved
with hydroplane racing?
You're a fan.
Was it a dream of yours to be asponsor?
Speaker 3 (16:14):
No, I never thought it was possible.
And uh, in 15 there was aarticle in the tri-city herald
saying that ed cooper wanted tocome back and they were looking
for a sponsorship and say Icould remember when they won
here in the tri-cities.
Um, you know the huge upset andthe crowd, crowd went wild, uh.
(16:38):
But I knew that he was stilldoing pistons, and so I saw this
article and I I thought aboutit for the day and then I there
was an email to send an addressor send send a message to if you
were interested.
So I sent an email it was rickbowles on the other end and the
email pretty much said I'm notsaying that I can, but if I
(17:01):
could, how much is it?
And they sent back a number andI thought about it and I said I
can do that.
I mean that's so.
So again, it wasn't, it wasn'tabout sponsorship for me, it was
not.
It was a way to give back tothe Tri-Cities.
And if I could get that boathere and bring back some of that
(17:24):
nostalgia, I thought that youknow, the Tri-Cities has been
good to me, I can do somethinggood for it, and so that's where
it came from.
The number was something Icould live with, and so I said,
yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I remember so in 2015,.
You had to jog my memory whenthat was, but I remember Ed and
I were in Valleyfield the weekprior to that.
We had done some work to say wethink we might be coming.
We didn't know, and Ed and Iwere in Valleyfield and he looks
at me and says hey, I'm gettingyou a ticket, we're going to
(18:09):
Tri-Cities, we've got a sponsorand until I, I don't know if we
decaled the boat here inEvansville.
No, it was here.
Was it out there the first time?
Yep, okay, so I do rememberthat we got everything ready and
I flew out to Tri-Cities, andwhen I got there, we were.
Miss Ace Hardware.
(18:31):
I can't remember exactly thatyear what we were, griggs.
Presents Miss Ace Hardware, isthat what it was?
okay yeah, and then you know,obviously getting to meet you
guys, and then I think it wasright off the bat, I think we
had good chemistry, I think, uh,I mean we knew right away you
weren't a sponsor that was goingto sit in your rv all weekend
(18:54):
and and just entertain people.
It was like you became a partof the team really quick, which
was really fun for us.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
See, I thought it was just going to be a financial
transaction and I met Ed at KNDUTV.
They had four boats out in theparking lot.
He said meet me there with thecheck.
I got in a holler with him andthe check and gave him the check
.
We sat down and started talking.
He asked why I was doing it.
(19:30):
I told him about the storyabout living on the river and
being fascinated by him.
He said he had the same story10, 15 years earlier than I did
in Madison, in Evansville.
It was the same thing for himand I think that I 100% know
(19:52):
that he was leery of me beinginvolved.
So I figured I was going togive him a check.
We'd have a conversation, I'd goback over to the pasco side on
run race weekend, put up a, aneasy up and some chairs, and
that's where I would watch therace from.
And hey, all of a sudden hemade me feel at home.
(20:14):
And going down to the, down tothe pits and setting up, it was,
you know.
I'm asking what can I do, youknow?
And he's, oh, nothing.
And I'm like, well, I got to dosomething.
I mean, can I sweep, can I?
You know, is there a mess thatneeds to be cleaned up.
What you know?
What can I do?
And he eventually warmed up tothe fact that I could help.
(20:37):
Now, as far as knowing anythingabout a hydroplane or working
on an Allison, that's not me, Idon't know that, but there's
things that I can do, and itjust worked into a relationship
with the whole team.
I thought they were probablyleery of me too, and I've been
(20:58):
around some of the people thatdo sponsor boats that it's all
about me, me, me, and for me itwas.
I just wanted to be involved.
I wanted to learn something.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Mike, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Ed has
a saying or a motto with theteam If you've got time to lean,
you got time to clean.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
He says that Now, everybody, he is not quite the
hard-ass that everybody thinksthat he is, and Charlie will
tell you too he is one of thesweetest, nicest people you'll
ever meet in your life.
He does have a rule no chairs.
Well, I will say I and thank youto charlie.
(21:38):
But when charlie came around,all of a sudden we had chairs in
the pit area, which was reallynice, and so that that was cool.
So I, I thank charlie for that,because he kind of introduced
uh hey, we could actually becomfortable at a race site.
So that was cool.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
But that was really cool.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
I do remember Charlie right off because, like, I put
the wing on and I never hadenough help.
So I do remember asking Charlieright off the bat when he was
standing, like, hey, do you wantto help me do this?
And it was right away, you know, dug in and helping.
And I believe the next day hecame with gloves and I do
remember that.
So I believe the next day hecame with gloves and I do
(22:18):
remember that.
So I was like okay, yeah, thisguy's got to, I like this guy.
And just from then on that,like I feel Charlie and I have
been good friends since day oneand he's fit in with that team
and he's welcome anywhere.
Yeah, and that's not the waywith everybody, but yeah,
charlie was just a good fit forour program and a great sponsors
(22:40):
, my favorite sponsor we everhad, and we've had a lot of them
.
But yeah, yeah, I it was.
I wouldn't say love at firstsight.
I don't know what you would say, but like, well, I love you,
but I don't know, but I can'tspeak for the rest of you.
But like, well, I love you, butI don't know, I can't speak for
the rest of you.
But yeah, it's just fit in sowell with what we do.
(23:03):
You know, no ego at all, eventhough his name is, you know,
bernie.
Never really had his name thatbig on the on the boat, but
Charlie's got his name huge onthe boat, so take that for what
it's worth.
But yeah, anyway, I'm justkidding Charlie.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Well, it's funny because I mean I got into it to
give back to the Tri-Cities andI didn't realize the friends I
mean the lifelong friends that Iwould make that quickly.
It's just everything.
Everything clicked and, like Isay, with with coopers.
(23:41):
I mean they were out here for,uh, for the columbia cup or gold
cup, whatever it was calledthis year, and mitch was here
and a bunch of the guys from theteam were here.
We just helped mitch, but it itwas, I was, I was, it was
racing to begin with, but nowit's friends and, like I say, if
they want to run the boat again, great.
(24:02):
Otherwise we can go meetsomewhere and enjoy the company.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, and it's even when I talk I will call Charlie,
you know, once a month or havesome kind of communication, and
it's never about hydroplanes oranything, it's just how are you
doing and family stuff and andso he's right and and it and
it's been the same for me.
It's like I don't reallyremember the races too more, too
much other than the gold cupand the ones we won, but I
(24:30):
remember the friends and the,the all nighters and going out
to eat.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
So it's kind of the same for me.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Well, it's fun to hear all the stories from the
team's past the three, thestories about the three and it
always makes me jealous that Ididn't start until 15.
I mean, I hear you and Culver'sand Ed talking about things and
things that happened and it'slike God I wish that I got to
(25:00):
know that person, or I wish I'dhave been there, for you know
that experience.
But you know, I'm lucky that Igot to do it when I got to do it
yeah, that's definitely,definitely right, I mean.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
But one thing I just echoed, I feel like with all the
people I talked to in the sport, is just that immense support
system of friendship and familywithin in the the sport and I
feel like you know every teamyou go to has that same sense.
It's a little bit different,but I know cooper's has.
It's really a great group ofpeople.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Yeah, I mean I really lucked out with with that group
, um, and then you know,actually, and Ed's had Ed's had
a reputation of beingcantankerous.
He, that is not that guy.
I mean, he is, he is the nicestguy.
He is the nicest guy in theworld.
Um, he, he's, he's just a greatperson.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
We'll go back to that first year.
And you have the decals on theboat and it says Griggs presents
Miss Ace Hardware, and you saton the water for that first time
.
What was your feelings seeingyour name on the boat?
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Like I say it was, it was kind of cool.
Uh, to me, like I say, it was agive back thing.
I didn't uh, I don't know thatit's what you that you might
expect.
Um, it was, it was just, it was.
It was cool.
Um, I never thought that itwould happen.
(26:37):
I didn't realize the amount ofpeople that would come up and
want to talk about it.
It was just something that Iwas doing as a giveback, but
people were interested in it andhad lots of questions.
I learned as much as I couldabout the boat.
(26:57):
I'm kind of a tour guide whenpeople wanted to see it.
But I remembered being a littlekid and standing next to a boat
and how interested I was in it.
And so when I would see kidscome up in pit tours and things
you wanted to give themsomething extra.
You wanted to talk to them andlet them know.
You know I don't know anythingabout working on boats, but I'm
(27:19):
here working, working with theboat team.
You show some interest withsomebody you may be able to do
the same thing and, uh, it wasjust, it was a cool experience,
but I don't know that it was.
I don't know that it was likeuh, you know, look at me, I've
got my name on the boat we talkabout saving Go ahead Mike.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
He took that to the next level and put names on
buckets so everybody can see hisname as well.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
I had the buckets before that.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Oh, okay, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
It's.
You know, when you're inbusiness you promote things, and
is it?
Is it a regular bucket or is itdifferent?
And so that's.
I don't know how many thousandsof those buckets we've sold,
but it's just something that isdifferent.
It's not a Home Depot bucketand it's orange with the letters
on it.
I mean it's, it's different,and none of the other ACE stores
(28:16):
have.
All of them are doing differentthings now.
But it was just an idea I hadand I just kind of ran with it.
I mean, I've got pictures of meon our vehicles.
I've been on TV since I was 21years old 21, 22 years old and
(28:40):
people know who you are and it'sa part of the community.
Well, when they see the truckdrive by and your pictures on it
, they recognize that it'sdifferent and so it's promotion
of the business.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Well, do you feel like, with this promotion of the
business, you said you'regiving back to the community and
I know you've gotten that back.
I mean, the community loveswhat you did for the sport and
for the Columbia Cup with that,but do you financially?
Do you feel like it was a gooddecision for your business?
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Financially it doesn't benefit the business.
I mean, if it were a nationalbusiness I can see it benefiting
, but when it's one race in theTri-Cities and we don't go I
mean we did race in Guntersvilleunder our name, but it's as a
business decision I don't knowthat it's a great decision, not
(29:38):
enough eyes on it to warrant it.
It did create some buzz.
The number of Facebook friendsthat I've gotten around the
country that are boat racingpeople.
Again, it always amazes me thatthey want to follow me because
(29:59):
they don't.
I mean, I'm just a guy, but Iaccept them and you know they
got questions about the boatsand they're interested in things
.
So that's part of what we'redoing is creating interest.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Well, and a lot of Charlie, something that you you
know.
You taught me about a lot,about the ACE hardware franchise
and the and now I mean Iexclusively use these hardwares
around here because of thequality.
You know you told me about themeetings you go to and you guys
pick out what you're going to doand it's it's good quality
stuff, like you're getting thebest of breed of whatever tool
(30:37):
or or anything.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
So they're, they're all independently owned.
Uh, they're, so it's.
It's small owners like me.
Um right, I've got, I've gotfour stores.
And spokane, there's one guythat's got three.
There's a number of them thatjust have one store, but they're
independently owned.
It's people they're makingtheir way, using Ace as what
(31:08):
they're famous for, but everyoneis on their own.
So when we went to Guntersville, I checked with all of the ACE
stores around the Guntersvillearea, trying to see if they
wanted to help in thesponsorship.
They're in a different positionthan I am.
They weren't able to do that.
We got them tickets and letthem come down to the race and
(31:31):
experience it, but they, all ofthese stores, I mean, like I say
, my, my largest ACE store is50,000 feet.
Most of the ACE stores are10,000 feet, so it's it's a
different scale and they just alot of them.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Just aren't able to help.
Well, at least during theColumbia Cup week did you notice
an uptick in sales.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
We did sell T-shirts in the store.
We've been selling the models.
It's crazy, we've sold like 200of the three models.
We've always had an uptickduring boat race week and it's
either it's tents, it's pop-ups,it's disposable chairs, ice
(32:20):
chests, that kind of thing.
We've always had that.
It didn't increase because wehad the boat down there, but
again, it's top-of-mindawareness as part of the
business.
Again, like Mike said, there'sfans all over the country that,
hey, I'm going to support theACE store.
(32:41):
I get, I get emails from themand stuff on Facebook that, hey,
I went down to the local ACEstore and in Nebraska, because
you're sponsoring the boat, soit I mean it helps everybody and
I tried really hard with ACEhardware to get them involved
and they they helped for a while.
Uh, they had a co-op programthat I could use to help pay for
(33:04):
it, uh, and then they'vechanged that, they've changed
that program.
So at the end that was it wasall on me to do it again.
It's it, it gets the boat tothe Tri-Cities.
That was my goal and again, ifhe wanted to keep doing it, I
would still be sponsoring.
But I really don't haveinterest in turbine boats.
(33:29):
So that's where I told him whenyou're done, I'm done, and he
made the decision.
He talked to me about it.
I wanted to know if I had anylong-term commitments with it,
since I didn't when he said hewas done okay, I'm good, we'll
(33:49):
just go to watch the race thisyear.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
All right, Knuckleheads.
That's all the time we have forthis week come back next week,
as we'll have part two of myinterview with charlie griggs,
alongside co-host mike hall.
Hopefully got a chance to getto know charlie a little bit
better with this episode, andwe'll have many more stories to
share next week.
Don't forget to check us out onour social media platforms on
(34:15):
Facebook and Instagram, as wellas our website online at
roostertelltalkcom.
On there, you can find manyupdates about the podcast and
even check out the subscriptionservice Roostertell Talk Plus,
where you get early access tonew episodes, enter into monthly
raffle drawings, as well asmany other fun prizes and
(34:36):
surprises along the way.
But that's all we have for thisweek, so until next time.
I hope to see you at the races.
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